Faith in God's Promises

Well, happy Sabbath, everybody! So good to see everyone. It's sort of hard to get into the hall. You bump into so many people that, of course, over the years, that you've spent time with and you want to reminisce with everybody that you see. So it's so good to see everyone.

We actually came down to see our children. We have our son, Stephen, here on the front row with our grandson Joseph. But, you know, Sean, of course, is in the area as well. So we came to see them as well. And I purposely did not tell anybody that I was coming because we've got a pretty hectic schedule. But anyway, I happened to spill the beans when I was talking to Mr. Scriber. And then after the fact, he mentioned about this, that you're having this. I didn't know that you were having this activity. And yesterday he called me and drafted me. So I asked me to speak and I couldn't tell him no. I always carried something in my Bible with me. I was hoping he wouldn't want to hear what I had in my Bible. But anyway, it's a great opportunity to say hi to all of you. We really appreciate the opportunity to be here. I don't think I've ever been in this particular building before. Very beautiful facility that you have here. Very blessed in every way. So that's great. Also, by the way, today we get an opportunity to see our good friends, Daris and Debbie McNeely, that we've known a long time. You know, we've known them. In fact, we knew them back in the last century. So it goes back a long way. But we were talking about where we first met. But it was a long time ago in a far-distant land called Alabama and Tennessee. He was in Murfreesboro and I was in Huntsville. But anyway, a long, long time ago. Of course, we've known the scribers a long time as well. And certainly love the McNeelys and the scribers and count them as friends, you know, and many of you as well. This summer, we're sort of having a hectic summer because we have August 10th we're leaving for Africa, going to Zambia to do a two-day training session there and then fly over to Malawi and do a three-day over there. And then we'll come back and do a Zambia youth camp. So we're looking forward to being able to see the kids after a long time. But then we come back and of course we get ready for suffering over and a why, you know. It's a tough assignment, but somebody's got to do it. But we're looking forward to the feast and everything, but of course it's a long journey to get there.

Some of you have asked about my health. I always tell the people I'm about 100 percent.

The only thing is I don't think I was 100 percent when I was here. So I'm not sure if I ever was 100 percent in my life, but I'm able to function. I run the circuit up in the San Francisco Bay Area quite often. In fact, when I go back, I'll have to run the circuit between Oakland and San Jose in the Bay Area there and see the brethren before we take off for Africa. My health though is doing really well. I appreciate your prayers. Certainly we made it through a difficult time. It was not easy, but I sure learned a lot through it all and certainly learned the power of prayer, the importance of faith in God and putting our trust in God and believing in Him.

You look at this world and, as you know, I dabbled in the news a little bit. I sent out a little prophetic Times newsletter, but there are so many hot spots in the world today. This world is a very scary place. All it would take is one act, one thing. If you're watching what's going on in the Ukraine, who knows? It could be that. We don't know. It could be something happening in Syria. It could be something happening elsewhere. We don't know where you might say that spark that's going to lead to and ignite such a great eruption of trouble in the world that the world has never seen before. We don't know where it's going to begin. We're sort of waiting for that time to come, but we sure do know where it's going to end. We know it's going to be right there in the Middle East when it's all said and done. Since man was placed upon the earth, he has predicted what the future would be. Usually you have, of course, people that at the beginning of the year, they want to make those kind of predictions. They want to say what's going to happen for the future.

And some predictions that are made are ludicrous and quite optimistic. Many have predicted by now we would be commuting and flying cars, like the Jetsons. You and I, wouldn't that be nice, though, to be able to be getting around in those little putt-putt type Jetsons cars that they had.

I found it very interesting. A magazine called The Futurist in 1967. I want you to take yourself back to 1967, what it was like in 1967. Of course, it was the hippie movement. But it was also a time when dreams were being made. It was a time when, of course, we had the dreams that were sort of fostered by John F. Kennedy about putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade. In fact, two years later, Armstrong touched foot, the first human set foot on the moon. But in 1967, in the magazine called The Futurist, there was a then Vice President, Hubert Humphrey. Now, how many of you remember Hubert Humphrey? Okay, this is an old group.

Bunch of old people here, because generally, you know, a lot of the young people, of course, don't know that. But, old Hubert Humphrey, remember how he'd sort of bounce around and one of his favorite saying was, I'm just as pleased as punch. You know, some of you may remember him. But anyway, he was a Vice President and he made certain predictions about the future.

And this is what he predicted. Elimination of bacterial and viral diseases.

That we would eliminate, you know, these types of diseases.

Correction of hereditary defects through the miracle of genetic chemistry.

Increase of our food supply through massive ocean farming, he said, and the fabrication of synthetic proteins. He said also the control of weather. Boy, California would love to hear that. But, you know, at least he said on a regional scale. He wasn't talking about worldwide, but on a regional scale. Of course, that hasn't happened yet. In space, he said that we would land men on Mars and that we would establish a permanent unmanned research station on that planet. And also, he was saying this in 1967, the creation and the laboratory of primitive forms of artificial life. Now, by the way, now they have actually said they've been able to create life in a test tube. Now, of course, they're a little bit away from producing anything that has any kind of intelligence to it. But it's interesting, though, what Hubert Humphrey predicted. He was right about some things to a limited degree and wrong about other things.

You know, we've had some of the things he's talked about that there's been progress made, at least in the sciences. But, you know, we know that basically that many people who make predictions, that most of their predictions do not come true.

I was going to give you my predictions, you know, for what's going to happen for the future, but my predictions are really not worth anything to you. I was going to say something cute like things are going to get worse. I think I'd be right about that. You know, things are going to get worse in the world. You know, even anybody can say something's going to be happening in the future and get it right occasionally. It's like they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Let's go to Psalm 146. You know, people make a lot of predictions in the world, and they have a lot of ideas about what the future is going to be. Man, of course, is very hopeful about the direction he is going in. You know, I heard, in fact, the press secretary said, you know, I did not hear it personally, but somebody was telling me that one of the press secretaries for this administration was talking about how that we basically have a calm time that we're living in. Talk about somebody out of touch, you know, with what kind of a world we live in today. But here in Psalm 146 and verse down in verse three, let's notice here. It says, do not put your trust in princes. You know, those who are the leaders of the world, don't put your trust in them, nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no help. Ultimately, this is the case. Human beings just are not going to ultimately be able to help you and me out in the future.

Certainly, if so, even on a very limited basis. And it says, his spirit departs, he returns to his earth in that very day, his plans perish. But notice here what he goes on to say. He says, happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help. You know, that person has the God of Jacob for his help, happy is his, whose hope is in the Lord his God. His hope for the future is not in the world.

It's not in the society. It's not in what man is doing out there. And there have been, of course, a lot of advances in science, but the whole past to be in God. I remember when I was in the hospital, I'll tell you, I had a lot of doctors come see me. But after you have about 47 of them come to you, and there were so many, pretty soon you don't even know who's coming and seeing you.

You know, and after a while, I realized I'm not a heap of trouble. You know, and I got to have some God because he's the only one who's going to be able to deliver me from this what I was going through. It was, and it really got bad. I won't, you know, talk about that. But we can't put our trust in human beings. You know, man can help, like you say, in a limited way, but he just ultimately is no help in the sense of your future, what is going to happen for you for the future. So I'm going to take a little time here, brethren, to talk about this and the message today is we must trust, brethren, and have faith in God's predictions. We must trust and have faith in His promises that God is made to us. The world that is ahead of us, brethren, is a very uncertain world. Now the thing is, though, your future is not uncertain. Now how we get there might be a little uncertain. What we may have to go through, the trials, the difficulties that we must go through, and no doubt all of us are going to have to go through, brethren, through many things in the future. But we know what our fate is, what God has out there for us.

You know, one of the things that did come to me when I was in the hospital, and I asked myself, why, God? Why am I going through this? Because, I mean, I exercise. I thought I did all the right things, you know, like you do, by the way. Watch my weight as much as I could. I didn't do a very good job of watching my weight. I guess I could have done a lot better job in that. But one thing that came to me that gave me hope, believe it or not, was the Scripture that says, don't think it's strange if a fiery trial happens to you. And I said, oh, I get it, God. This is it. This is the fiery trial. And it occurred to me, brethren, I'm not the only one going to go through a fiery trial.

God forbid you go through what I went through. But if you're going to be in the Kingdom of God, all of you are going to go through a fiery trial before you get there. But you continue to hope in God, and you'll make it through. No question about that. But we have to have trust and faith in the promises of God. And if we trust humans, we're going to be disappointed in the end. But not so, brethren, with God and God's promises. From ancient times, God has made certain promises, and the Bible proves to us. You know, it's written down for us. We can read the stories that God is always faithful to His promises and what He says. And woe to that man who does not believe, or that woman who does not believe God is faithful to what He says. He means what He says, and He will bring it to pass. Let's go to Genesis 12 over here. I want to talk about the promises of God. And I think the natural place to go is to, you know, a man who, of course, is the Father of the faithful. He's the one that began all that. In fact, we're here today because of this man.

Hard to believe, isn't it? Started out a long time ago. But we're here today because of this man written about here in Genesis 12. But notice here in Genesis 12, verse 1 through 3, it says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country from your family, your comfort zones, and from your Father's house to a land that I will show you, and I'll make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and I'll curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In you, everybody on the planet is going to be blessed because of you. Now what a promise God was giving to Abraham. Let's go over here to chapter 13 now, just over from where you are.

I'm, of course, skipping over quite a bit here. But in verse 14 of chapter 13, it says, And the Lord said to Abram, after a lot, it says, had separated from him, Lift up your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, and all directions, in other words, For all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I'll make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Now what a promise that God was giving to this man. Incredible promises here.

All the land, he's saying, you see, is going to be yours. It's going to be your descendants, Abram, as he was known as then, later Abraham. The only problem here with this promise is Abraham had no children. Had no descendants. Had no one. And, you know, let's be honest, the prospects weren't too awful good for him. 75, usually don't start having children when you're 75. You know, that's a problem if you start having them when you're 75, in fact. But his descendants were going to inherit all of this. But all this land, he says, is going to be yours.

And God made the promise that Abraham's seed would inherit it all. But he did not say, by the way, that there would not be times when once they gained the land and his seed occupied it, that they would lose it. He didn't say that. It's always good, brethren, to read between the lines what God does not say. But in the end, all that was there was going to belong to Abraham. And, of course, we've seen different scenarios of things that have happened in the Middle East and what has occurred over in the Middle East with that little dot-sized nation over there that little piece of turf that now is going to be the focal point of the entire world very shortly.

But let's go now to Genesis chapter 15 and verse 1, verse 4 verses here. And this is, and after these sayings, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, do not be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. You're exceeding great reward. But Abram said, Lord, what will you give me, saying I go childish? And the heir of my house is Eliaser of Damascus.

He didn't have a child that was going to be able to inherit anything. And then Abram said, look, you've given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, this one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir, your own body. So here's what God told him. Now, of course, he was 99 years of age.

And when, in fact, he was given the final word, he was going to have a child. But here it says, from your own body is going to be your heir. Now, Abraham's mistake, by the way, was he began to try to figure it out himself, how this would happen, how this was going to occur. You know the story. He took Hagar.

And maybe he reasoned within himself. He said, well, you know, God said that it was from my body, but maybe it didn't have to come through Sarah. And after all, Sarah brought Hagar to Abraham, so it all seemed to click and work into place. You know, in this kind of situation, ladies, if you're ever in this situation, you know, don't be bringing your husband strange women like this. But I guess she wasn't strange in the household. But anyway, you know, we see here that he began to think it through himself. But of course, we know he was wrong.

Now, let's go over to chapter 17. Chapter 17 over here, verses 1 and 2. And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the Almighty God, walk here before me and be blameless. Here we're saying, we often have said that God is telling him, be converted, be converted, as we understand. And I'll make my covenant between, he said, I will make my covenant between me and you, and we'll multiply you exceedingly. And of course, he still didn't have that offspring. And this was thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael.

Twenty-four years after being promised by God that the land that was going to be, that was before him was going to be given to his descendants. So that had not happened as yet. But down in verse 15, chapter 17 verse 15, let's notice this. Then God said to Abram, As for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her.

Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of peoples, shall be from her. And then Abraham fell to his face and laughed. And said in his heart, Shall a child be born? Oh man, it was a hundred years old! And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Hopefully he would do that, but he of course was not. And it says, Then God says, No, Sarah, your wife shall bear you as son, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him, for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.

And so here's what God promised him. But here we see Abraham laughed, Sarah laughed as well, but she would be the mother of these descendants that God was going to give. Now the most important question, brethren, we've got to ask in reading through this, is there anything too hard for God to do?

Too remarkable for God? I mean, you look at the stars of heaven, and you look at all that God has made, this earth and everything that is in it, the millions upon millions of insects and other life forms that are upon this earth today, and the complexity of it.

You know, Abraham looked in the sky just like you and I do today. But this world, of course, everything in it is a tremendous miracle. And of course, God created human beings. Is there anything too hard for God, if God so chooses to do whatever He says He's going to do?

You know, sometimes I know it is that when we see someone is sick that we dearly, dearly love, and we pray and we pray and we pray for that person, and then they die.

You know, it's like there have been a number of people, by the way, that I prayed for very, very hard, very earnestly. I won't ask you to show your hands if this has happened to you.

But, you know, to see them die, it just is so hard. You know, you ask God, where were you, God?

Why are you hiding yourself? You haven't intervened when I prayed for these people.

You know, to humans, to us humans, death seems to be a final thing, doesn't it? It just seems final.

But really, as we understand, it's only asleep. It's only asleep that people experience. It's hard to really view it that way when you're facing your own death, by the way. Just asleep, but that's what it is. That really is what it is, just a sleep.

And when the time comes, God's going to be able to bring somebody up just like that.

It would not be a very big miracle for God to do that.

You know, God's promises, brethren, we read them in the Bible.

No matter what happens to you, no matter what happens to me, they're in the Bible.

And you know what? They're still true. They're still true. No matter if you and I are not around, something happens to us, the promises go on.

I want to show you in the Bible that that was true in the life of Abraham.

He had these exceedingly wonderful promises that were made to him. But no matter what happened to Abraham, those promises were still in effect.

That God keeps his promises. He always does.

Let's go to Genesis chapter 26. Genesis chapter 26.

You know, after Abraham died, and I want you to think about this, God made all these wonderful promises to Abraham.

After Abraham died, let's see what Genesis 26 says.

And down in verse 3, just one verse here we're going to read.

Here God's saying to Isaac in verse 3 of chapter 26 of Genesis, Dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants I give all these lands.

And I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. You see, the promises go on, brethren.

Abraham died. God made the promises to Abraham. Isaac's the son of Abraham and Sarah.

The promises go on.

And they will keep going on, brethren, until there is no physical life.

You know, upon this earth and everything is spirit, as we know in the end, it's going to be. God said, I'm going to perform this oath I made to Abraham your father.

God had not fulfilled his promise, brethren, during the life of Isaac either.

After a while, Isaac died. Old man.

Then Jacob died.

In fact, it was a number of generations before we even see of an inkling in the land.

In one sense, of the fulfillment of the promises God made to Abraham.

In fact, it was 430 years in coming.

You know, boy, Abraham didn't realize time how long it would be to the 24 years. Oh, that's a piece of cake.

It was 430 years before the promises began to be fulfilled. God made, of course, Israel wander in the wilderness for 40 years. We all know that before he brought them into the Promised Land.

You know, about the 15th century BC, as we know, around that time. Abraham, what about the 20th century BC in that time period? Before we see, again, the fulfillment, the beginning fulfillment of the promise land. The promises of God and what God had done. And it said to Abraham.

And we know that Israel, though, really began to take off.

After the death of Moses and Joshua, we know that you have these leaders that are over Israel. Israel goes forward in time until we come to the time of Saul. And then afterwards, we have King David and then we have Solomon.

But Israel grew right along to greatness.

And at the time when Solomon was king over Israel, Israel had become a global power at that time.

It was a great power in the world, occupying a major part of the territory, you know, of what now is Syria and Iraq and Jordan, all that, you know, was a part of Israel in one way or another. And it was the golden age, you know, of Israel when those times were upon Israel. What a wonderful time it was for them when it was at its acne. But we know when Solomon became very wealthy, when Israel became very wealthy, that Solomon began to turn from God. He began to sin because of his multiple wives.

And as a result, we know what happened, that God told him, I'm going to take the kingdom away from you, except it won't be from you, it's going to be from your descendant where that's going to happen.

I'm going to take them away from you. You know the story about after Solomon died, Rehoboam, you know, became the king. Instead, he was a young man. He listened to the counsel of young men.

And consequently, we know that he irritated many of the tribes of Israel, and so they broke away, you know, from Rehoboam. And we know they followed Jeroboam. And when they broke away, there were ten tribes to the north, as we know, and of course, the tribe of Judah and Benjamin that was to the south in Judah. Let's go over here, though, to 1 Kings chapter 14. I want to read a few verses over here to you. 1 Kings chapter 14 over here, what God began to tell, in fact, Jeroboam, what was going to happen to him after he had broken away. He had the opportunity to start over again and start better. But we know Jeroboam deviated from following God. He began to worship at the feast in the eighth month, and all kinds of things. Set up calves, as we know, that were worshiped. But chapter 14 and verse 7 here, let's know this, and it says, Go tell Jeroboam, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, 1 Kings 14 verse 7, Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over my people, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you. And yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, who followed me with all of his heart, and to do only what was right in my eyes. But you have done more evil than all who were before you. In fact, he defined evil as a leader, because God, time and again, told the leaders of the northern kingdoms that they send the sin of Jeroboam. But you've done these things. You've made for yourself other gods and molded images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back. Therefore, behold, I'll bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free, and take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuge until it is all gone. Now, one of the things that was happening here, you remember he had a child that was very sick, and he was told it was going to die.

And God also said, that is the only descendant of yours that is going to go to the grave with honor.

This infant. You know, everybody else would go to the grave with great dishonor.

Now, you can do a study of this, Brother Nye, and just encourage you to do it. Go through, because it really shows us something very, very important.

If God says something, you better believe it. If he promises something, if somebody is disobedient and he says, I'm going to do this and such, you better believe it. It's going to happen.

Because God's promises are sure. And, of course, if one is disobedient, what he says is sure. If one is obedient, those promises are sure. God, in fact, told that to Israel, if you do these things, I'll bless you when you go out, and I'll bless you when you come in.

You know, it's amazing. The United States used to, it's like we could do no wrong in the world. It was like God blessed us hand over fist when it came to economic things that we did.

He blessed us when we went off to war, World War I and World War II.

You know, we should have lost that war, frankly. I mean, the Germans had great advancements technologically. The Russians and the Americans, of course, skirmished to get the scientists of the Germans. But, you know, they had this technology, but they were not able to utilize it because there just wasn't enough time for them. If they had a little more time, you know, they certainly would have defeated us, and you and I would probably speak German today.

Now, no offense if you already speak German, but you and I would be a part of that kind of culture.

But God blessed us when we went out, and He blessed us when we came in, in an incredible, incredible way. But let's notice down in verse 14, it says, Moreover, the Lord will raise up to himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off from the house of Jeroboam. This is the day. What even now? It's going to start now.

It's going to start now. You're going to lose your child, for one thing, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, Jeroboam, of what you're going to face, of what you're going to go through. You know, God promised to raise up a king to destroy Jeroboam's descendants. You know, that promise occurred in the 22nd year of the reign of Jeroboam, and of course, we know that these things happened. Nadab, his son, was assassinated. He only reigned for two years, so God cut him off. Of course, this happened after the death of Jeroboam.

And then, Basha became king, and Basha, by the way, destroyed every other descendant of Jeroboam, just as God had said, just as God had promised. And Basha, of course, we know, continued in the sins of Jeroboam, and guess what?

God promised that he was going to end his line, too. You have these new opportunities, but they didn't take those opportunities, and God says, I'm going to end your line. It shows, brethren, the fate of those who are disobedient, of those who sin, and lead others to sin, which, of course, the king would do. But, you know, Jeroboam and Basha, by the way, weren't the only kingly lines God promised to shorten. Ahab's descendants were going to be cut off as well, and remember, his wife Jezebel was to be eaten by dogs. According to the promise, God told him, you know, the prophecy about what was going to happen. And yet, God delayed the fulfillment of that promise because Ahab humbled himself in God's sight. That shows another thing, doesn't it?

You want to change the future? If you're going down the wrong path, you've got to turn around. You've got to begin to live life differently. Do a little management of time and realize you've got to make hay while the sun shines. Apply yourself, live God's way, and use the moments you have to do that. The rewards of obeying God are so tremendous in so many ways. You know, it's hard to enumerate all the ways that God will bless his brethren.

And if we only humble ourselves before God, as Ahab did, of course, we know eventually God went ahead and fulfilled those promises given to Ahab because, you know, Ahab was not super righteous, no question about that, and God cut off his descendants, though.

No, with the northern kingdoms as well, what is interesting is God was telling them that he was going to remove them. He said, you're worse than the people that basically came into this land, I'm going to remove you. But, you know, we know it was 200 years before God did that. You know, the United States has not been around that many hundreds of years, so, you know, we can see that God's very patient with us. He wants us to get turned around, all of us in our lives, and he's very merciful to us in so many ways.

The point, brethren, of going through these things and talking about these things is this, though, brethren, that God is always true to his word. You can bank on it, you can count on it, and that is past, present, and future as well. And, brethren, I hope that you and I will not settle for now. Young people, I hope that you won't settle for now. You know, we can have a lot of fun, of course, in life. We can have a lot of enjoyment in life. No, don't get me wrong. You know, God wants us to enjoy life, but don't settle for what this life alone has to offer.

Because the future is so wonderful beyond our wildest dreams, brethren.

Beyond our wildest dreams, the future is going to be so wonderful. And, you know, I know there's a lot of gray hair here, but, you know, I know a lot of you, even though you got frost on the roof, you've still got a fire in the belly. And, you know, you've been around a long time. You've been faithful a long time. And that's, of course, to your credit and to God's credit. These allowed you to be here all this time. But God notices, brethren, everything you have done.

You won't forget it. We see that over in the 2nd Peter over here. I won't go over there, but, you know, we should not mistake the long suffering of God as though God has slack in His promises.

Because God is going to fulfill those promises. And He won't forget a thing that you and I have done, brethren. Things we've endured that we've gone through, the difficulties. Those promises are just as sure, brethren. You know, I did want to mention one thing. When I was out of it, I was out of about two weeks or so, you know, when I went into the hospital. But in a way, I sort of know what death is. You know, although I don't think it was anywhere close to death. But one thing I think I do understand, if I had not ever, you know, been aroused out of my sleep, as it were, and been able to, you know, continue serving God, I wouldn't have known it. I wouldn't have known it.

And you know what? In a way, it would have been easier, because the journey would have been old for me. But when I came around, I realized my work is not done. And God has given me a little more time.

So I think I understand what, you know, the apostles meant to die, you know, as to gain, and had to live as to gain, as well. You win-win both ways, you know. And I'm just thankful that God allows me to be here, to be with our loved ones, and to be with them a little longer.

But we know this life is but a vapor. It really is. It goes so fast, so quickly.

But promises of God, though, are going to come to pass, no matter what. If we just trust Him and have faith in what He says, you can always count on the promises of God. Think of all the promises God has made to His brethren. You know, Deuteronomy 28, God said that He would bless us for obedience. Like you say, bless us when we come in, and bless us when we go out.

He promises to heal us and to not lay on us the diseases of Egypt if we diligently obey Him. He promises to bless us if we tithe.

A lot of times when people have financial problems, oftentimes it's because they're not practicing tithing the way that they should. That's the way those things work.

You know, if you don't keep the physical laws of health properly, chances are you're going to have health problems that come. Same applies to finances, but a part of that is tithing. God blesses us if we tithe. He promises to never leave us or forsake us in Hebrews 13 verse 5.

And of course, we have all the promises of the Beatitudes, brethren. Matthew 5, the meek shall inherit the earth. He promises, brethren, if we love God's law, nothing will cause us to stumble. We see that in the book of Psalms. And let's turn over to Jeremiah 29 in verse 11. What God says, brethren, to us, and what He says for Israel, for that matter, Jeremiah over here, and 29. Sorry about that pea popping.

I don't know if I can move this back a little bit.

Usually I don't have that much problem projecting.

Well, the one problem I do have is finding Jeremiah. For some reason here, yeah, it's over here. Still in the book. It's good to know that. Jeremiah 29 down here in verse 11.

God says, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

That's what God thinks about us, brethren, to give you a future and a hope. And He says, then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

So God's thinking good things, brethren, about us and for the future.

He's thinking good things about the United States of America. He's thinking good things about Israel. Big things, in fact.

You know, how many of us ever imagined, brethren, that we were born to be kings and princes and royalty? How many of us ever thought that? But that's what God has for us in the future.

Another thing, too, I'm not going to go to Philippians 1 verse 6. God promises that what He has started in us that He will complete. He's not done yet.

He's not done with you and Me, brethren, and He's going to keep on keeping on as long as you and I participate. Also, Romans 8, 28, the most encouraging, one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible, all things work together for the good of those that love God or are called according to His purpose. Promises of God, right there, brethren. We have the promise of answered prayer. We ask anything, of course, if it be of God's will, in the name of Christ, God will do it.

So we have all these wonderful promises to avail ourselves of in the Bible, brethren.

Now, in most instances, God has certain standards which have to be fulfilled before He fulfills His promises with us. You know, again, if we want God to fulfill the promises that He's made for us, we have to be able to walk by a certain standard of righteousness. Again, are we living our lives and redeeming the time that we have? You know, as we were admonished in the first message, are we using the time that we have here, utilizing it in a right manner so that we can inherit the great promises that God has made to us? With Abraham, by the way, you remember when after God had given Abraham his son, Isaac, you know, God said to him, Abraham, I want you to take your son. It's almost like God was rubbing it in. Your only son, and I want you to go to a place up here in Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice him. You know the story in the account of what happened there. And, you know, when Abraham was raising the knife to do what he, you know, was called upon to do of God, God said, stop. And then we know that God said to him, now I know, now I know. Well, brethren, for you and me, we're going to have a now I know moment in our lives, too. There are certain things that God's looking for in us. You know, God forbid that we have to sacrifice our child the way Abraham did. But God said, now I know. I can fulfill my promises through you, Abraham, and your descendants. Now I know.

Well, God hopefully knows your heart and my heart. Are we going to go to the gamut? Are we going to go the full nine yards? Are we going to run the race? Are we going to do what Christ said to endure to the end? The same is going to be saved? Well, God is going to see if that is the kind of heart we have. God is making great promises to his brethren to give us such incredible promises for the future that he has to have the kind of character in us to fulfill those jobs that are going to have to be done. And God has a very high standard. But, you know, no matter who we are, we can make it. If God is called you, you can make it. You can make it. And just a matter of enduring to the end, because God is going to give that to the people that endure the end, he's going to fulfill those promises in our lives, brethren. We know that we have to be fully committed to God. Have faith in what God says. That's what Abraham did. Get total faith in God. And again, remember, God does not forget your work and your labor and your faithful service to him and to his people. We should, of course, follow those who believed in the promises like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They set the stage for us. Abraham, again, died without receiving the promises. In fact, you read all of Hebrews 11, brethren. And that's the story. They all died in the faith, having not received the promises. They saw them afar off, as it were. And you know, brethren, I think we're going to have to go through the same thing. I don't know, again, what the future may be. I used to think that I would see the return of Christ, I mean, in the sense of being, you know, alive, you know, at the time of Christ coming. God willing, brethren, we're going to be in that resurrection. We're going to see Christ when he returns. But I used to think that I would be alive when that happened. Maybe not. I don't know. We don't know. It doesn't matter. The promises are still there.

If we have that faith, we have that conviction, we have that confidence, brethren, the promises are going to be fulfilled for us. One of the things that Jesus Christ, brethren, talked about, He said, when the Son of Man comes, is He going to find faith? You know, when He said that, you know, He made that statement in the book of Luke. He said this after He gave the parable, remember, of the importuning widow and the unjust judge. Remember the story and the account?

He talked about how then after that, we know He talked about when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith? Now, what was the reason, though, why He told the parable to begin with?

What was the reason He gave that parable? Well, the reason He gave the parable is so that we should always pray and never faint, never give up prayer, brethren, never give up looking toward the future.

You know, if we believe God's promises, brethren, that's why we pray, night and day, Thy kingdom come. We want God's kingdom to come, like that old, persistent widow.

Kept asking, you know, the judge, and finally he acquiesced.

Now, I hope, brethren, that you and I are praying, you know, the kingdom of God come every day and every night so that it arises before the throne of the living God. And He knows, brethren, we want the kingdom. We desire the kingdom, and God will send it. Many times I've prayed, God, dispatch your son. We need him now.

I mean, look at the world, brethren. The direction this world is going in.

And again, remember, too, we may have to go through some of the troubles and the trials that are going to come and hit in the tribulation. Jesus, though, told us, I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you. And He said that I am going to be with you always, even, He said, to the end of the world. So Jesus Christ is right there with us, brethren.

So, brethren, if you want to be spot-on with predictions about the future, if you have faith in God's promises, brethren, and you believe that with all of your heart and your soul and your mind, you're going to be right. You're going to be right. Because God will absolutely fulfill all of His promises regarding the world that we're living in today, and He's going to fulfill those promises, brethren, for your future and my future. And, oh, what a wonderful future we have as God's people. If we can only endure to the end, keep our hope in those promises, we know God absolutely is going to fulfill them. Well, brethren, it's been a wonderful opportunity to come here and to see you all. And we're going to, of course, see many of you afterwards, but let's keep on keeping on. Till we see you next time.